Larisa A. Dobrynina

Larisa Anatolievna Dobrynina is a Head of 3rd neurological department, specialized in early rehabilitation of stroke patients and patients with chronic cerebrovascular disorders and other diseases of nervous system, of the Research Center of Neurology. In 2013 L. A. Dobrynina defended her D. Sci. thesis, devoted to the problem of ischemic stroke in young patients based on the data of over 500 patients who suffered stroke in the age of 18-45 (data was collected in cooperation with Professor L. A. Kalashnikova). Using her own unique experience in management stroke in young patients and considering recent advances in stroke research she presented an algorithm for verification the causes of stroke in the young. She played the leading role in the defining the structure of various causes of stroke in young patients that are different from those in elderly population, as well as in the description of new biomarkers of thrombophilia (prothrombotic state) and in the assessment of the potential for motor recovery in young stroke patients. In cooperation with the researchers of the Neuroradiology Department of the Research Center of Neurology she presented first in the world algorithm of the structural integrity assessment of the corticospinal tract and paradigm for the evaluation of the functional reorganization of cerebral cortex in patients with severe motor deficit. For the first time in the world they suggested thresholds for irreversible motor deficit in hand and inability to use maps of neuronal activity for the prognosis of recovery (patent No 2477620). In cooperation with Professor L. A. Kalashnikova and researchers of the Neuroradiology Department they suggested clinical and neuroimaging algorithm for diagnosing of dissection of cerebral and extracranial arteries and isolated vasculitis of extracranial arteries and their differential diagnosis form other causes of arterial stenosis of occlusion (patent No 2526267). In 2013 together with Professor L. A. Kalashnikova she authored a book “Dissection of cerebral arteries: ischemic stroke and other clinical outcomes”. L. A. Dobrynina supervises a Ph. D. thesis devoted to the mechanisms of connective tissue dysplasia and their role in the development of the dissection of cerebral and extracranial arteries, leading to stroke. L. A. Dobrynina is a member of international CADISP (Cervical Artery Dissections and Ischemic Stroke Patients) research group and contributed a paper "Common variation in PHACTR1 is associated with susceptibility to cervical artery dissection" (Nature Genetics, 2015; 47(1):78-83). Since 2014, L. A. Dobrynina takes part in collaboration with the researchers of Laboratory of Clinical Epidemiology and Neuroradiology Department of the Research Center of Neurology, that perform the analysis of the data obtained during cross-sectional screening program of open population of Moscow outpatient clinic service areas in 2011-2012 as a part of multicenter epidemiological study aimed at risk factors and mechanisms of progression of cerebrovascular disorders in working middle-aged population. She played leading role in the design of the neuroimaging study that was the first in the world to demonstrate the patterns of brain damage in patients with newly diagnosed asymptomatic hypertension depending on its stage, to estimate thresholds of brain tissue damage needed to develop clinical symptoms, and to show the role of increased vascular permeability in the microstructural damage, that may be significant for subclininical cognitive and psychoemotional changes (according to cognitive tests). These patterns became the basis for the development of the concept of the role neurovascular coupling (NVC) in the cognitive decline and psychoemotional changes, and justified the need for seeking for the mechanisms of NVC impairment and approaches to treatment in small vessel disease (SVD) patients. Currently, she takes part in the study of multifocal non-tumor brain lesions with the use of neuroimaging techniques and supervises 5 Ph. D. students, that study the role of various pathophysiological mechanisms in clinical symptoms of SVD using structural and functional neuroimaging (please refer publications). L. A. Dobrynina is the author of 40 publications for the last 5 years. She presented the results of her studies at Russian and international meetings, including Autoimmune and Immunodeficiency Diseases Conference, European Stroke Conference, Functional Diagnostics Conference, Annual Session of A. N. Bakoulev Scientific Center for Cardiovascular Surgery, et al. Please find detailed profile of L. A. Dobrynina, including her publications and presentations, in the ISTINA system http://istina.msu.ru/profile/Dobrynina/.